John Lewis tech sales rise following heavy IT investment

John Lewis' Electricals and Home Technology (EHT) category grew 7.9 per cent year-on-year despite a 'challenging' market, the retailer said.

During the 53 weeks ending January 31st 2015, John Lewis also saw sales of large electrical and audio products rise; every channel and category grew during the year.

"EHT was up 7.9 per cent, performing well across the year, despite a challenging market, with large electrical at 12.5 per cent and audio at 23.4 per cent," the retailer said in a statement.

The news comes after John Lewis invested heavily in both its IT systems and warehousing during 2014.

"2014 saw us invest £92.5 million in our IT and systems, giving us the foundations of a fully joined-up customer experience across the customer journey," the retailer added. "Work continued on our second distribution centre in Magna Park, which takes us to over 1.3 million sq ft of space when combined with our existing Magna Park site, and we have also announced the opening of a third distribution centre in Milton Keynes in 2016."

Overall, John Lewis continued to outperform the market with gross sales up 9.2 per cent to £4.43 billion, beating the BRC by 4.9 per cent, combined with growth in operating profit, up 10.8 per cent to £250.5 million.

Shop sales were up 2.2 per cent, while johnlewis.com saw an increase of 21.6 per cent to £1.4 billion.

Click & Collect overtook home deliveries this year, now accounting for 54 per cent of online orders. Plus, John Lewis also reported Black Friday as its busiest single day.

Sir Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of John Lewis partnership, said: "The Partnership achieved a strong sales performance with increased market share in both Waitrose and John Lewis, and customer numbers up by six per cent and four per cent respectively."